“CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil told staffers during an emotional meeting that he “regretted” putting them in a difficult position amid the brewing scandal at the network over his grilling of an anti-Israel author, The Post has learned.
The embattled anchor spoke at Tuesday’s staff-only meeting — which was not attended by co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson — a day after being reprimanded by CBS brass for his fiery sit-down with Ta-Nehsi Coates, a source with knowledge said.
“Tony said he regretted putting his colleagues in that position especially the ones overseas and in danger,” the insider told The Post.
“There were tears. [People were] very upset,” the source continued, adding that staffers are “divided” on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and were “troubled” by how Dokoupil challenged Coates last week.
Dokoupil, however, didn’t back down from his incisive questioning of Coates about his new book during the 11:30 a.m. meeting, which was led by “CBS Mornings” executive producer Shawna Thomas, sources said.
A second source said that some black staffers who attended the meeting were critical that Burleson and King have remained tight-lipped about the matter.
Dokoupil held a private meeting on Monday with his co-hosts in his office at 1515 Broadway, the second source said. The details of the 30-minute pow-wow could not be immediately learned.
Dokoupil did not return requests for comment.
CBS News declined to comment.
In the days leading up to Tuesday’s meeting, the source said that “CBS Mornings” staffers complained to network top brass about the journalist’s treatment of Coates, who was promoting his latest book, “The Message.”
The novel condemns what he called Israeli “apartheid” in its administration of the territories captured in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Dokoupil, a convert to Judaism whose ex-wife lives in Israel along with their two children, took issue with Coates, saying that the book “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist” due to its characterization of Israel.
During a staff meeting Monday — on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,400 in Israel — CBS News boss Wendy McMahon and president of content development, Adrienne Roark called out Dokoupil for bringing his “bias” to the interview, adding that it did not live up to the network’s editorial standards, according to reports from Puck News and Bari Weiss’ Free Press.
On Tuesday, Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS parent Paramount Global, fumed over how the executives handled the situation, saying it was insensitive to address the matter on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Free Press posted had leaked audio of Monday’s meeting, which also included criticism from CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford, who blasted the execs’ statement in front of staffers.
“It sounds like we are calling out one of our anchors in a somewhat public setting on this call for failing to meet editorial standards for, I’m not even sure what,” she said.
“I thought our commitment was to truth. And when someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges that he has, it’s my understanding that as journalists we are obligated to challenge that worldview so that our viewers can have that access to the truth or a fuller account, a more balanced account. And, to me, that is what Tony did.”
Puck News reported late Monday that in order to address the uproar inside “CBS Mornings,” the network was planning on tapping DEI consultant, Dr. Donald Grant to lead Tuesday’s discussion with staffers.
But Grant’s own controversial views were revealed by The Post, including a social media post by the self-proclaimed “mental health expert” of an altered cover of the classic Harriet Beecher Stowe novel about slavery “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” — featuring the face of Donald Trump-supporting South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott photoshopped over the images of several other characters.
The post to Grant’s Instagram account, which he put up earlier this year, changed the title to “Uncle Tim’s Cabin” and also included an image of conservative commentator Candace Owens.
At the time, CBS News declined to comment on Puck’s report and Grant’s Instagram. On Tuesday, Puck reported that the decision to bring in Grant had been spiked amid the kerfuffle, which sparked outrage from critics, as well as a fundraising effort by Scott using Grant’s Photoshopped book cover.
“The disgusting rhetoric above is EXACTLY what’s in store for us if we allow the Radical and Intolerant left to win,” Scott wrote on the fundraising platform Win Red.
